Absenteeism Reduction Scheme

Continuity of care and support for elderly residents is absolutely paramount for The ExtraCare Charitable Trust, which operates 29 supported housing schemes and retirement villages throughout the greater Midlands area and the North. As a forward thinking and progressive charity, committed to providing independence and an enjoyable quality of life in later years, the organisation took a positive approach to promoting staff commitment, and ensuring that absenteeism never became a barrier to achieving those goals.

"In 1997 our staff absenteeism rates were typically running at about 11%", comments Kathy James, H.R. Administrator at ExtraCare, "which ultimately could impact upon our ability to deliver the continuity of care that is so important to us. Therefore we took positive steps to address the situation and introduced a scheme to reward exemplary attendance and staff loyalty. Some 1,300 staff are now eligible for the reward which takes the form of a six monthly reward of £50 worth of Love2shop - The high street gift vouchers, which the recipient can spend in over 85 different retailers across the country. All staff with no absences in the preceding six month period qualify for the award. In addition, we run a monthly attendance lottery, whereby all staff with no absence in the qualifying month will be put into a draw and five people are selected out of the lottery - each receives £100 worth of Love2shop gift vouchers. It's important when setting up the structure of a campaign like this that you add an element of excitement, and offer 'instant rewards' that can be won in the short- as well as the longer-term. The scheme has proved itself extremely effective, with absenteeism levels now reduced to 4%. The majority of those are long-term illness - the scheme has been very successful in reducing the number of odd days that staff used to take off - people really are keen to qualify for the reward. And that has a very positive impact on our business."

ExtraCare also issues a Recruitment Bounty to personnel who introduce a new member of staff - they receive an initial £50 worth of Love2shop gift vouchers, which is supplemented with another £75 worth once the new recruit has been in post for six months. In conclusion Kathy states, "Everyone aspires to receive these vouchers - they are ideal in that they appeal to all levels of personnel, because they can be spent in so many outlets from Debenhams and House of Fraser, to Iceland and Boots. There's something for everyone."

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